TOP 5 Causes Of Weight Gain

Why do women gain weight in midlife and beyond?

Women gain about one-half to one pound per year starting at age 40.

Let's review the top 5 causes of weight struggle in the menopausal transition and what you can do about it.

#1 Estrogen Decline

Here's putting it mildly: hormones affect your weight! 

Notice more belly fat? The decline in estrogen is one of the main reasons.

Estrogen helps regulate metabolism and signal fat breakdown.

Declining estrogen is associated with:

• Increased insulin resistance

• Increased hunger

This can lead to changes in fat distribution in the body.

Even if the number on the scale doesn't change much, where your body stores fat often does.

Instead of carrying more weight in the hips and thighs, fat tends to shift toward the abdomen, leading to more belly fat.

This is a normal part of aging and one of the reasons many women feel like their bodies have changed, even though their habits haven't.

Adrenal hormone imbalance may also be responsible for weight gain.

#2 Decreased Muscle Mass

If it feels like your body isn't responding the way it used to, you're not imagining it. As we get older, we naturally lose muscle, and because muscle burns more calories than fat, our metabolism slows down. For women, hormonal changes during menopause can make this even more noticeable.

#3 Reduced Movement

One of the biggest reasons people gain weight in midlife is that we generally move less.

Whether it's because of joint pain, fatigue, menopause symptoms, a busy schedule, or simply the demands of everyday life, many of us become less active as we get older. Even small decreases in daily movement mean we burn fewer calories over time, making weight gain much more likely.

#4 Thyroid Dysfunction

Hypothyroidism can slow down metabolic processes, making it easier to gain weight.

#5 Poor Sleep & Life Stress

Do you frequently feel stressed or tired? If so, you'll need to discover methods to lower cortisol, also known as the stress hormone.

Night sweats and insomnia can disrupt sleep, increasing hunger hormones, cravings, and making it harder to make healthy food choices. This can lead to cortisol imbalance.

Despite common misconceptions, cortisol isn't inherently "bad." It aids in promoting alertness in the morning and activates your fight-or-flight response when you need to be vigilant.

But if your cortisol levels remain consistently high over time — whether that’s a few days to a few years — everything from poor sleep and fatigue to skin breakouts and digestive distress can kick into high gear. 

So What Can You Do About It?

The good news is that there are ways to mitigate the unwanted weight gain.

Practice portion control and calorie counting. Replacing high-calorie foods with lower-calorie choices and cutting your portion sizes can help improve weight control.

Prioritize proteins. Aim for 30 grams of protein per meal.

Choose whole foods. Choose whole, unprocessed foods. Fill half your plate with veggies, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with starch (like starchy veggies or beans) or fruit. Finally, add some healthy fats to support satiety and balanced energy. Reduce the amount of processed foods and refined grains, such as white bread and white rice. Try the Mediterranean diet.

Hydration is also critical to maintaining weight as we age.

Medications (GLP-1 Agonists, Phentermine, Orlistat) can help overcome a slower metabolism.

Intermittent fasting

Three ways to do this:

• Alternate day fasting — Alternating between days of no food restriction with days where you eat only one meal a day at 25% of daily calorie needs. Example: Mon-Wed-Fri consists of fasting or 400-500 calories a day, while alternate days have no food restrictions. This, to me, sounds sadistic and preposterous. So, no…

• Whole-day fasting — 1-2 days per week of complete fasting or up to 25% of daily calorie needs, with no food restriction on the other days. Example: The 5:2 diet approach means no food restriction five days of the week, cycled with a 400-500 calorie diet the other two days of the week.

• Time-restricted feeding — This was my choice. Eating only during a designated window of time and technically fasting all the other hours of the day.

Get moving. You don’t need hours of exercise to get the benefits. That is, you don’t need to do it all at once. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends 150 minutes a week of aerobic exercise for adults. That means you can spread your activity out during the week. You can break it up into smaller chunks of time during the day. Lift weights and build muscle! Strength training can help you build and maintain muscle and bone mass, which is especially important since you lose them as you age. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories your body uses even at rest. Find a sport, exercise, or physical activity that you enjoy doing and recruit a friend to join you, and you’ll be more likely to do it.

Check your TSH, cortisol, and adrenal hormones.

Reduce your toxic burden.

THE TAKEAWAY

• You do have to reduce calories.

• You do have to choose a nutrition plan you can stick to.

• You do have to hydrate.

• You do have to exercise.

• You do have to balance your hormones

• You do have to sleep.